AuthorTopic: Australian Life and/or? (Read 748 times)

Caught this unusual scene,... seemed like the spider caught a big dinner, well ,... not so sure all went as planned.Made the image in mid evening,... hoping that the poor intruder would eventually get free. ... No!When I came by next morning to see what happened,... poor fellow/girl was still not free,(nor eaten),... but breathing.Picked him/her from the web,.. gently untangled the tough web strands from the poor fellow/girl, and gently put him/her on the grass,.. with lots of water to keep him/her moist. Happy to say I think the fellow/girl lived for another day.,.. but the spider will need to wait for another meal,.. no doubt.

Can't pick the spider. Could be an orb of some sort, but as others mentioned some location would help a lot. There are over 2,400 species of spider in Australia :-) This one appears not to be venomous, at least not to reptiles (which would be odd if that's what it routinely caught). Seems like it was just waiting for the skink to die from being trapped.

Thank you gentlemen. This was taken in Newcastle NSW Australia. The image stayed with me for quite a while,... guess I was struck by the "helpless" pose of the skink. Thanks for viewing and responding. John, after looking at the image you attached,... this is what I thought might be the demise of the skink,.... but wasn't sure if it was on the Orb's diet. Rescued it anyway.

Thanks for viewing and responding. John, after looking at the image you attached,... this is what I thought might be the demise of the skink,.... but wasn't sure if it was on the Orb's diet. Rescued it anyway.

Spiders will usually take whatever they can overpower and get. Typically, this does not involve vertebrates due to the size differences. However, some spider species are large enough to take vertebrates, particularly young ones. There is something 'not right' about that, emotionally, to me as well. (I realize morality has no place in nature, where 'it is what it is' prevails; still, it's a bizarre thing to see at any rate.) That said, I would have rescued the one I saw as well ... but it was too late for that.